Rowan Students, Faculty Share '1,300 Reasons to Live'

Hundreds of postcards crowd the Wellness Center windows at Rowan University, where students and faculty are sharing their 1,300 reasons to live.

"A lot of us have seen the show and read the book 13 Reasons Why, and we figured we could probably come up with 1,300 reasons why not to hurt yourself," said Allie Pearce, the assistant director for Healthy Campus Initiatives at Rowan University. "What are your reasons to live? What are your reasons to get up in the morning?"

At the beginning of the semester, the campaign organizers started to ask students to fill out cards expressing their reasons for why they keep going.

To date, they have received more than 1,000 responses, and they keep coming in.

"Some are really deep and profound, and some of them are things like ‘I like ice-cream,’ ‘I like my cat,'" said Pearce. "Those are all fantastic reasons."

"A lot of students do struggle with mental illness, and some people don’t know what to do, they don’t know who to talk to," said Nicole Kides, a senior at Rowan University. "This is just a really good project to bring awareness to it, and let people know it’s okay if they’re not feeling OK."

While there were a variety of different responses, having the postcards posted in the middle of campus provides easy access to inspiration.

"I think that it’s a really good thing to do," said Neva Ahmed, a senior at Rowan. "Not only does it allow people to realize that they’re not alone in this situation, but also that there’s so many people out there that are there supporting them."

Although Tuesday, October 10th, is considered World Mental Health Day, staff at Rowan University reminds students that help is always within easy access to them.

"We want students to seek services if they need them, and we want students to be able to talk to each other, just about life and what’s going on," said Pearce.